Big Dreams Great Teams® with Paula Maidens
THE podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders of small growing businesses who want to grow and lead a team of high performers. We cover all things hiring, team, people and leadership development through a mix of solo and guest episodes. You'll hear highly practical information and real behind-the-scenes stories to support you to grow the business and life of your dreams.
Episodes
171 episodes
Team Performance Check: Are Your Employees Meeting Your Business Needs
In this solo episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens walks through a simple but powerful assessment to evaluate your team's performance and how it may be helping or hindering your business growth. With over 70% of her clients ...
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Episode 170
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17:55
Scaling Team Growing Pains: Why Your Team Can Break on the way to $1M (And How to Fix It)
Growing pains aren't just for growing teenagers… your business experiences them too! In this value packed episode, Paula Maidens dives into a challenge that catches many successful business owners by surprise: why your once-perfect ...
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Episode 169
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27:43
Financial Foundations for Smart Team Growth: Essential Money Moves for Scaling with Lisa Turner
In this essential episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m interviewing Lisa Turner, founder of Accounted For You, a specialised Zero-only bookkeeping practice helping female-led businesses understand their numbers with clarity and confidence.&nb...
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Episode 168
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32:33
Transform Your Team Meetings: 3 Questions That Build Accountability & Drive Results
In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula shares a powerful framework to transform your team meetings from energy-draining obligations into the strategic engine of your business. Discover the three specific questions that create accounta...
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Episode 167
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30:30
Ask, Don't Tell: The Tiny Shift That Will Free Up Your Time & (Finally!) Empower Your Team
Are you exhausted from being the only person in your business who can solve problems? Tired of explaining the same things over and over to your team? In this powerful episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, Paula Maidens reveals why "telling" might ...
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Episode 166
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21:19
From Overwhelmed Owner to Strategic CEO: The Leadership Evolution Your Business Needs
Here's the truth - working harder isn't the answer to scaling your business. After 14 years of helping business owners build high-performing teams, I've discovered exactly what it takes to break free from operational overwhelm and step into tru...
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Episode 165
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25:54
Transform Your Culture USING Values-Based Communication in 2025
Are your business values secretly working against your team's performance? In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I'm sharing a practical framework for using values-based communication to transform your team culture. Whether you have formal...
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Episode 164
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16:03
AI in Hiring & Leadership: What Works and What Doesn't
In this episode of Big Dreams Great Teams, I’m pulling back the curtain on how AI tools are helping and hindering hiring, recruitment, leadership, and productivity for small business owners. From streamlining operations to optimising team perfo...
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Episode 163
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22:22
Break These Leadership Habits Before They Break Your Team in 2025
As a small business owner, your leadership style directly impacts your team—and ultimately, your business success. In this episode, we dive into three common leadership habits that could be holding you back in 2025. Disc...
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Episode 162
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11:15
Behind The Scenes: Triumphs, Tests & Truth Bombs of 2024
We're pulling back the curtain on what 2024 really looked like - beyond the glossy social media highlights and into the reality of running a business!In this special end-of-year episode, I'm sharing MY full picture of running a successfu...
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Episode 161
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22:01
The Franchise Success Formula: Values, Vision, and Making Hearts Sing; Lessons in Culture-First Leadership from ActivOT's Founder Helen Wait
What if the secret to scaling your business wasn't about rigid systems, but about leading with your values? In this inspiring episode, Helen Wait shares how she transformed her solo occupational therapy practice into ActivOT, Austra...
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Episode 160
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33:50
4 Thinking Preferences: Which One Drives Your Brain?
Have you ever wondered why some tasks energise you while others leave you drained? Or why certain people’s problem-solving approaches make perfect sense to you, while others leave you feeling baffled? In this episode of The Big Drea...
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Episode 159
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21:37
Scaling to $7M in 4 Years: Essential Business, Team & Leadership Lessons with Allana Ford
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Allana Ford, the founder and CEO of Muse Pilates, who has built an incredible fitness empire across Australia in just five years. Since opening her first studio in December 2019, Allana has grown Muse ...
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Episode 158
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32:47
Time vs. Energy Management: Is Time Management Obsolete?
In this episode, Paula shares her thoughts on the debate between time management and energy management. Paula reflects on a recent discussion she heard about the shift from time management being the gold standard to energy management taki...
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Episode 157
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13:05
Managing Anxiety, Mental Health & Burnout in the Workplace with Dr. Jodi Richardson
In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, Paula sits down with Dr. Jodi Richardson, a leading expert on anxiety and mental health, to dive deep into the complexities of anxiety, stress management, and burnout. Dr. Jodi shares her p...
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Episode 156
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35:25
Q4 Retention Activities To Power Up Your Team for 2025
In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, Paula dives deep into the strategic activities you can prioritise in Q4 to wrap up 2024 on a high note and set your business and team up for success in 2025. From celebratin...
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Episode 155
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23:53
Creating a 'Bad Day' Business Model Through Automation - with Peta Serras
In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, we dive into the strategies that can help small business owners turn challenging days into opportunities for growth and innovation and ultimately make business more profitable and sustainab...
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Episode 154
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34:00
Remuneration Models - Which Pay Structures Are Right For Small Business (& What To Avoid)
In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, we're diving into one of the most crucial aspects of building a strong and loyal team—rewarding employees. As your small business grows, choosing the right remuneration model can b...
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Episode 153
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30:30
5 Leadership Habits You Need To Break To Scale Your Business
In this episode of The Big Dreams Great Teams Podcast, host Paula Maidens dives into the five critical leadership habits that CEOs of small businesses need to break in order to scale successfully. As your business grows, the leaders...
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Episode 152
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17:40
Unlocking the Link Between Productivity and Profitability in Small Business
In this episode, Paula reveals five proven strategies to measure and optimise your team’s productivity. With real-world examples, she demonstrates how increasing team productivity leads directly to higher profitability and greater financial suc...
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Episode 151
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17:54
Navigating ADHD and Entrepreneurship with serial business owner - Jane McFadden
Jane McFadden, an entrepreneur, former psychologist, author, neurodiversity specialist, and neuroscientist, shares her personal experience and academic knowledge on ADHD, entrepreneurship, and business. She discusses her journey fro...
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Episode 150
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49:29
My #1 Philosophy for Life & Business
In today’s episode, Paula shares her #1 philosophy in business and life and that is… the power of choice. In this personal share, she opens up about how this applies to various aspects of her life and business and how this belief is empow...
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Episode 149
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24:35
Transforming Performance through Team Events with Mykel Dixon
In today’s episode, we’re diving into the world of Team Events and how to build High Performing Teams with the incredible Mykel Dixon - a jazz musician, award-winning speaker, award-winning author and recognised authority and professional speak...
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Episode 148
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35:05
The Pros, Cons & Differences You Must Know When Hiring Subcontractors
In this episode, Paula dives into the different types of subcontractors that are available, and in particular she compares hiring a Subcontracting Team to a Freelancer. She explains that while the terms are often used interchangeabl...
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Episode 147
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19:49
How to Attract & Retain LOYAL Team Members
This episode addresses a commonly asked question which is How to Retain Employees. Paula discusses the elements to both Attract and Retain Loyal Employees and Team Members which to her, is much more than someone who just ‘stays’ and ‘show...
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Episode 146
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28:43